Harry Potter and the Silver Secret
by dragonfreak32
Summary: My version of what the 6th book will be like. Harry and Dudley work together for the first time, Aunt petunia and Uncle Dursly are found dead, and Harry visits Azkaban! This is my first Fanfic, so please read and review! Chapter 5 up!
1. Unexpected Arrivals

"BOY!" It was the first day of the holidays when Harry was awoken by his Uncle Vernon alarm clock which he had grown so accustomed to over the years. Harry slowly got up out of bed and reached for his glasses.  
"I SAID GET UP YOU LAZY---" But what Harry was he never found out. Uncle Vernon's voice was suddenly cut off.  
"That's strange" Harry thought to himself. Harry slowly began walking down the stairs. When he reached the bottom, he stopped in shock. Slowly, carefully, he pulled out his wand. Directly in the middle of the kitchen, stood one of Harry's many adversaries, Lucious Malfoy. Lucious was looking the other way, so Harry, was not in his line of vision. However, something else was. He was staring at something laying on the ground. More acurately, two things laying on the ground. Harry choked at the sight of his aunt and uncle laying dead on the floor.  
"Uncle Vernon; Aunt Petunia..." was all managed to mutter. Caught by surprise, Lucious whirled around on the spot.  
"So, we meet again, eh, Potter?" As in slow motion, Harry's wand slipped out of his hand. "So the perfect little boy who lived is defenceless in the hands of a famous deatheater. How......delightful. Oh how I will enjoy handing you to the Dark Lord. He lifted his wand above his head and opened his mouth, but before he could say one word, he was tackled from behind. Harry stared, gaping open-mouthed at his dudley, who was hanging on to Lucious with all his strength. Without waiting another second, Harry grabbed his wand. "EXPELLIARMUS!" Just as Lucious threw Dudley off of him, the spell hit and sent Lucious flying into the bookcase. The Death Eater slumped down, clearly unconcious. For the first time in his life, Harry looked over at Dudley with gratitude.  
"Thanks" was all they could say. 


	2. The belly of the beast

For the next five minutes, all Dudley could do was stare at his own hands and mutter to himself countless times so fast that Harry couldn't understand him. It was then that he first noticed his dead parents laying on the floor. He let out a squeal of terror that almost deafened Harry.  
"So........ why did you do it?" asked Harry, breaking the awkward silence.  
"Did what?"  
"You know, saving me back there. I know under any other circumstance you would've laughed as he brought me in"  
"I knew that after he brought you in to that Dark Lord, he would've come back and kill me."  
"Oh" said Harry. "So his cousin wasn't actually trying to save him, he was trying to save his own skin" he thought bitterly.  
Before Harry could think of a witty remark to say, a rust colored barn owl flew through the open window. It dropped a letter into Harry's lap, and flew up and out of the chimney. Silently, Harry opened the letter.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~  
  
Harry Potter,  
We have just recieved word that a disarming carm, and an unforgivable curse was just used 6 minutes ago. We regret to inform you that there will be no disciplinary hearing, as use of an unforgivable curse leads to life in azkaban.Three minutes after reading this letter, you will be instantly teleported to the gates of Azkaban.  
  
Signed,  
Mafalda Hophirk  
  
Improper Use of Magic Office  
  
Ministry of Magic  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~  
  
Harry stared at the letter in disbelief. They weren't even giving him a chance to prove him self innocent. "Dudley, listen" Harry said "You must do exactly as I say, or else worse things will happen besides death. First, you have to go upstairs and give my owl this letter." Harry pointed his wand at the stairs and said "Accio parchment, quill, and ink." Dudley just stared at Harry, apparently too lost for words.  
Harry began writing a letter as fast as he could, explaining everything that had happened.  
"Tell her to take it to Ron she'll know what to do. Then leave the house and get as far away from here as you can. Run as fast as you can and hide. Harry reached out his hand to give Dudley the letter when the room around around him faded away. All at once, Harry felt that bone chilling coldness of dementors and found himself on a rocky cliff. He turned to look around when two very stromg hands picked him up and threw him into a hole. He fell for what seemed like hours and then, for some reason, he lost consciousness.  
Harry woke up later, though he had no sense of time. He looked down to his hand, he was still clutching Ron's letter. Now with no way to get it to him, Harry knew that all hope was lost. Then he recieved the bigest shock of them all. His wand was still in his pocket. Why didn't the dementors take it. He didn't understand it. Harry looked up and saw a dementor walking towards his cell. The dementor unlocked his cell with what looked and functioned like a wand, but seemed to be made up of bones. Harry pulled out his own wand. The foolish dementor had left the door standing wide open. Harry wondered why he wasn't being affected by the dementors. Other than leaving the place cold and seemingly lifeless, Harry didn't seem to be affected by the dementors at all. He concentrated on leaving Azkaban and returning to the wizarding world. He thought of living with the Weasly's now that his Aunt and Uncle were dead. He would never have to see them again. "EXPECTRO PATRON---" Harry gasped and fell to his knees. **FLASH**Harry's mother was being affected by the Crutacius Curse**FLASH**Harry was being prodded by the end of Aunt Marge's walking stick**FLASH**Ron had left Harry, abandoned him**FLASH**Sirius was falling into the veil **FLASH**  
Harry was kneeling on the ground, a plate of food in front of him. The dementor had gone. Now Harry trealized why they let him keep his wand. Everytime someone tried to cast a spell, the dementors all focused their power to drain all happiness on one person at once.  
"Psssssst" Harry looked around, trying to locate the source of the noise.  
"Oy, Harry, up here." Harry looked up, and to his astonishment, saw Mr. Weasly.  
"Harry, your cousin came to our house. Apparently, he released Hedwig and drove his Parents car following her all the way to the Burrow. Well, as soon as he got there, he told us everything. About Lucious, tackling him, you disapearing into thin air, and I told Fudge that it wasn't you who used Avada Kedavra, it was Malfoy, so he cleared you of all charges, and Lucious got alittle kiss from a certain cloaked and hooded figure.........  
"Your cousin was sent to a muggle orphanage, and I'm not sure where you'll be living, but, erm, I won't say I didn't make a few suggestions about coming to live at the burrow, erm......." Mr. Weasly's neck began to grow a very bright shade of red. "Of course, for the rest of the holidays, you'll have to go see Dumbledoore, Fudge, and the Wizarding Home Counsilist tomorrow, and you'll be living where they decide to put you for the rest of the holidays and once shool ends."  
Harry felt as if he could of performed the worlds most diffucult spell in the middle of Azkaban. Immediatly, harry felt that strange strange sensation of the world around around him fading away, and when the world came back into focus, Harry was sitting in between Albus Dumbledoor, Cornelius Fudge, and a strange woman he had never seen before. All of a sudden, that happy feling went away, because as much as he hated to admit it, his entire future lied in the hands of a headmaster, a politician, and a councilist. 


	3. Harry's New Family

"So Mr. Potter, I see that you are in obvious need of a new home," The Home Councilist was the first to speak. "Before we actually begin our debate, do you have any preferences to where you would like to be like to live at?"  
  
"Erm......Yeah actually, I would, uh, like to, um, move into, you know, um, the Weasly's."  
Dumbledore was the next to speak. "I myself believe the Weasly's would not only be happy to take him to into their house, but I also have reason to believe that they would also treat him with as much respect as a real family."  
  
"Well," said Fudge, "I have to express my feelings that after being seperated from the wizarding world so much in his childhood, moving into a house with muggle loving wizards is surely not the correct decision. Therefore, I believe that young Potter here should move into the Malfoys establishment. After all, young Draco has recently lost a father figure and I believe taking Harry into their Mansion would be good for both Harry and Draco."  
  
"NO! I DON'T WANT TOO!" Harry bellowed.  
  
Even Dumbledore was was unusualy bitter after that suggestion. "Fudge, do you really expect Harry to move into his archrivals home?"  
  
"The way I see it Dumbledore, Harry doesn't exactly have a choice."  
  
The Councilist put in her two cents this time. "You'd be surprised, Fudge. As strange as this might seem, we can't exactly send Harry somewhere he doesn't want to be. And as I am extremely kind, I have decided, under the extreme amount of pressure you had put me under before the meeting to send Harry to the Malfoy's, I have decided that he will be much better off at the Weasly's. Unfortunately," She addressed Harry this time, "For the next week, you will be forced to live at the Malfoy's, as Narcissa has requested a chance to explain what happened. You will be OK with that, won't you?  
  
"O-ofcourse."  
  
"You will be given 1 hour to tell the Weasly's what happened. After that, you will be immediatly sent to the Malfoy's. GRANDEIA!" She said, pointing her wand at Harry.  
  
"Before he knew what was happening, Harry was in the Weasly's kitche.  
  
"HARRY!"  
  
"Oof!" Harry was caught completely offguard by, from the looks of it, a short, waddly redhead. "Ginny? My, you've gained alot of weight over the summer."  
  
"It's not real weight you know. Fred and George have perfected a new brand of Skiving Snackboxes. Their called Fattie Fudges. Unfortunately, they used me as a guinea pig. The promised they would give me the orange peice right after I did a presentation for them at their store, but of course, I refused. Imagine what it could do to me if it went wrong!"  
  
"All righ' there Harry?" Ron had just walked down the stairs and seemed delighted with himself for some reason.  
  
"Whats withe crazy grin?" Both Harry and Ginny asked the question at the same time.  
  
"Well, if you want to know, my O.W.L results just came. I got 12 of 'em. But the strange thing about it is the way they decided to send them. They didn't use owl post, scince these letters are EXTREMELY important. They came by---"  
  
At that precise moment, something came shooting out of the kitchen sink. It rocketed straight at Harry, and he, with ease, he caught it. It was a letter.  
  
"As I was saying, they're sending 'em through the pipes."  
  
"Listen, Ron, Ginny I---"  
  
Just then an owl streaked through the window and dropped a letter into Harry's outstretched hand. But this wasn't just just any letter letter, it was scarlet red, and begining to steam. Harry ripped open the Howler, and Dumbledore's voice sounded throughout the burrow.  
  
"HARRY! I'VE WRITTEN A HOWLER INSTEAD OF A NORMAL LETTER BECAUSE I HAVE SUCH GREAT NEWS. IT SEEMS THAT NARCISSA KNOW LONGER WANTS TO SPEAK WITH YOU, SO YOUR WEEK AT THE MALFOY'S WILL NOT HAPPEN. YOU ARE FREE TO SATAY IN YOUR NEW HOME!"  
  
It was then the rest of the Weasly's decided to come downstairs."What was all the ruckus about?" Mrs. Weasly wanted to know. So Harry sat down and told his entire story.  
  
"Thats delightful dear!" Mrs. Weasly exclaimed.  
  
"Well, you'll propably need your own room, so follow me Harry." Harry followed Mr. Weasly outside to the garden.  
  
"All right then! I know just where to put it." With a simple flick of his wand, Harry watched as bricks and pieces of wood flew through the air and assemble themselves neatly into a descent sized room. "Go on up and have a look!"  
  
Harry walked up five flights of stairs, and say a door with a sign tacked up to it that sayed "Harry's Room" As he opened the door, he stepped in in awe. "Bloody Hell....." His room was arranged just the way he would've done it him self. Harry sat down on his bed and pulled the letter he got from the sink and opened it.  
  
**************************************************************************** ******  
  
Dear Mr. Potter,  
You O.W.L. results are listed below, along with your new class list, from which you may choose the classes you wish to take along the minamal requirements for that class. Also included is your supplies list for your sixth year. Please note that a permmision slip to compete in the first annual Wizard Duel Contest, of which the winner will earn a chance to take private lessons from a famous Auror of your choice on the weekends.  
  
Minerva McGonagle  
  
Outstanding- 3 O.W.L's Exceeds Expectations- 2 O.W.L's Acceptable- 1 O.W.L Poor- 0 O.W.L's Dreadful- -1 O.W.L's  
  
Potions- A Transfiguration- E Charms- O Divination- P Care of Magical Creatures- O Defence Against the Dark Arts- O Astrology- E Herbology- E  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Class choices for next year:  
  
N.E.W.T. Potions- Minimal Requirements- Outstanding & 18 O.W.L's N.E.W.T. Transfiguration- Minimal Requirements- Exceeds Expectations N.E.W.T. Charms- Acceptable & 13 O.W.L.'s Advanced Divination- Outstanding N.E.W.T. Care of Magical Creatures- Exceeds Expectations & 16 O.W.L.'s Advanced Defence Against the Dark Arts- Exceeds Expectations & 12 O.W.L.'s Extremely Advanced Defence Against the Dark Arts- Outstanding & 16 O.W.L.'s N.E.W.T. Astrology- Acceptable N.E.W.T. Herbology- Exceeds Expectations  
  
**************************************************************************** ******  
  
Harry immediatly marked off N.E.W.T. Transfiguration, N.E.W.T. Charms, N.E.W.T. Care of Magical Creatures, Extremely Advanced Defence Against the Dark Arts, and N.E.W.T. Astrology. Harry was both dissapointed and happy that he couldn't take potions.  
  
Harry folded back up his letter and it immediatly zoomed out of his hand and out the window. Harry rushed to see where it was going, and saw it dash up the garden hose. All Harry had left was the permission slip, and as if Mrs. Weasly was writing it herself, her name etched itself into the parchment and it too zoomed up the hose.  
  
Harry collapsed on his bed, ready for his summer to unfold. 


	4. Starvmite Attack

Early the next morning, Harry was up far before the rest of the Weasly family. Harry sped down the stairs two at a time. Half way down, (next to Ginny's room), Harry tripped and rolled all the way down the remaining 3 flights. As he rolled into the living room, he collapsed into a heap on the floor, laughing his head off.  
  
"Hehehehehe....." Harry stopped laughing immediatly. Something made that evil laugh, and for some reason, Harry had the distinct feeling he heard that voice before. Pulling out his wand, Harry slowly advanced into the kitchen. There, he found a found a peace of parchment. Written on it, it said,  
  
**************************************************************************** ******  
  
Harry, We can't put in the amount of information we want to in this letter. We can't tell you who we are. But we can tell you this much, and hope you figure it out on your own. We are not dead.  
With Love,  
T & P  
  
**************************************************************************** ******  
  
The envelope had been stamped with a crest of two stags crossing antlers. Harry was confused. Who was T & P? Why were they telling him they weren't dead? And how did the letter get here?  
  
Later that day, Mrs. Weasly was watering her garden, and Harry, Ron, Fred, George, and Ginny were playing quidditch together in a makeshift pitch. Ron and Fred were playing George and Ginny. Harry was on neither team, and was trying to catch apples Mr. Weasly was throwing up at him. For every one he caught, the losing team would gain ten points. For every one he missed, the losing team would lose ten points. In the end, when the game was called off because the watering hose went haywire and began soaking everyone outside, the score was Ron and Fred: 920, George and Ginny: 930.  
  
Once inside, when everyone sat around the table for cocoa, and Mrs. Weasly had began making dinner, Mr. Weasly made a startling discovery. He was sipping his hot cocoa, when his chair gave way and collapsed under him. Harry immediatly glanced at Fred and George, wondering if they gave him a Fatty Fudge. Ginny's extra weight had long scince dissapeared, as Fred and George noticed that their creation was temporary, so it was more than a possibility that had used their father as an extra test. But when Harry looked at Mr. Weasly, he saw that he was as skinny as ever. But then Harry noticed that the chair was dissapearing into thin air. Then the table. Then the walls themselves.  
  
"Starvmites!" Mr. Weasly shouted.  
  
"What are---"  
  
"Everyone, to the fireplace NOW!" Mr. Weasly bellowed.  
  
When Mr. Weasly reached the fireplace, he pulled out his wand. "LACARNUM INFLAMARAY!"  
  
The fireplace burst with fire. Mr. Weasly threw in the entire floo powder container into the flames. He stepped in and said, "Everyone, follow my lead...Diagon Alley!"  
  
With that said, he whooshed out of sight. Every one climbed in, and Harry was the last one left. He turned aroud to glimpse the Burrow before his unexpected leave, and to his astonishment, everything made of wood was gone. Harry jumped into the flames and screamed, "DIAGON ALLEY!!!"  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~  
  
Two weeks later, everything needed in the house that was destroyed was replaced. Harry and the two adults were the only ones that still had their wands, so the others all got new ones. The weasly's bought a nice new house, though they couldn't move into it until after summer break. Everyone was staying in the Leaky Cauldron, and Harry, Ron, and Ginny were planning on going to the library today to look up their family's crest. On their way there, they met their fellow schoolmate, Neville Longbottom, who was also going to look up his family's crest. At first Harry didn't know why Ron, Ginny, or Neville didn't know their family's crest, but Neville said his was lost with with his parents, and Ron and Ginny didn't want to put any more pressure on their parents by asking. As they turned the corner, Neville said that he didn't actually want to be part of the tournament, but his gran made him. Then they saw the Library, and both Neville and Ginny fainted at the sight of it. 


	5. The Maze

The library was twice as big as Gringotts, including the underground tunnels. It was painted a bright gold, and had tunnels that led to different areas of the library. Harry doubted you could see the whole place in one day, and he wondered why he never saw the place before. All in all, Hary thought it looked like a fancy hamster cage.  
  
Ron rushed forward to the doors, but they wouldn't budge, and when he rang the fancy bell, he flew from the door so fast, when he hit the wall on the other side of the street, he bounced back off.  
  
"Ricochet Curse" Ginny muttered.  
  
Neville approached the great pearly white doors, and pulled out his wand.  
  
"Neville, no!"  
  
"You can't use magic!"  
  
"It's propably booby trapped!"  
  
But Neville listened to none of them. "Alohomor---"  
  
All of a sudden, a great hairy hand reached down and snatched up Neville's wand before he could utter any more.  
  
"HAGRID!" Everyone screamed. Even Neville seemed relieved.  
  
"Yep! Jus' thought I might try an' warn ya. Dumbledore put a certain charm on the door. It's sorta the prelimanaries for the tournament. Ya gotta get in this here library, without usin' one bit of magic."  
  
With that, Hagrid handed Neville back his wand, and ran off before anyone could speak.  
  
"Sure wish Hermione was here." Ron said.  
  
"Wow. I never thought I would see the day Ron Weasly wanted me here."  
  
Once again, everyone screamed out a name in excitment, but this time, the words were aimed at Hermione.  
  
"Hermione! What are you doing here? I thought your family was in an Asian Dentures Soceity Meeting!"  
  
"It let out early, so I decided I'd come by here to pick up my family's crest. But I've been doing some research, and that library isn't a library. It's a maze. At the end of the maze is a book with every family's crest in it. Unfortunately, if you already know your family's crest, you have a free ride. This maze is to see who can survive in a maze with some pretty powerful things without doing magic. The only way in is to put your wand in the book check in slot. Once you put your wand in the slot, the door will open and let you through.  
  
"How do you know?"  
  
"Erm... I took a job at Hogwarts and Albus told me to---"  
  
"Albus?" Ron asked. "Since when did you call Profesor Dumbldore Albus?"  
  
"For your information Ron, he told me to think of him as my boss, not my headmaster." Hermione snapped. "Now if you dont mind, he told me to clean up his office and, erm, uh, I sort of looked in his pensieve and I saw him planning the tournament, but all I saw of it was the maze because I was on a time limit. I just recently left the job since their are only five days left of holidays." And with that, Hermione walked forward, put her wand in the slot, and the door creaked open. "Are you going join me?" she asked, turning to face the others.  
  
Quickly, Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Neville stepped forward and put there wand in the slot. Then, following Hermione's lead, they stepped through the doors. Immediatly, after all five of them stepped through the door, the pearly white doors slammed shut, cutting out the outside world.  
  
The inside of the Maze was even more increible than the outside, with it's wide, gleaming tunnels, and as Harry turned to Ron to comment on the sheer incredibility of the maze, he noticed that the rest of the group was missing. He should've realized that they wouldn't be allowed to travel the maze as a group. Swearing to himself, Harry walked down a hallway.  
  
As Harry walked down the hallway, he noticed that things were growing taller. Up ahead, Harry saw a fork in the hallway. He began to run, hoping to get out of the maze before dark. But Harry stumbled and tripped. As he got up, he noticed his clothes were sagging so badly, he could barely hold them up. He also seemed to be less physically cordinated, it was difficult for him to even ball his hand into a fist to pull his clothes up. As Harry stood up, he noticed he was extremely wobbly, as if his legs could barely hold up the weight of his body. Harry took of his glasses, and peered into them. What Harry saw when he looked at his reflection in the glasses was enough to make anyone faint. Harry was looking into the face of a little baby, not more than a year old!  
  
"A Time Reversing Spell..." The hallway... the farther down it he walked, the younger he got. Reluctantly, Harry turned around and began heading the other way. When he got to the begining of the hall, Harry had once again become fifteen years old... with a pang of realization, Harry remembered he would be sixteen tomorow. Harry headed down another hall and found himself in a tunnel. As Harry walked in the tunnel, he noticed he was going up. When he got out of the tunnel, Harry saw two things that surprised him. One was a pheonix was sitting on the left side of the room, and the second was two witches standing on the right side. As Harry walked forward, a piece of parchment appeared out of midair. On it it said: The Pheonix will take you where to the half point, and the two witches will each give you two clues; however, one speaks only lies, and one tells only the truth. You may only choose to consult either the pheonix or the witches. Not both.  
  
Harry was confused, but finally decided to recieve the info from the witches. As he approached them, many things happened quickly and unexpectedly. Immediatly, the pheonix took off the room span around and many doors appeared out of nowhere.  
  
The witch on the left said, "Take the second door, but do not trust my sister."  
  
The witch on the right said, "Take the ninth door, but do not trust my sister."  
  
Both witches at the same time said, "All the wrong doors will lead you to a dead end. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!" And with that, both witches dissapeared.  
  
Harry walked up to the ninth door and said, "Please let this be it." Harry stepped through the door and with a bang, something catapaulted him forward. A giant book loomed ahead of him. Just as soon as he started, he stopped. The book opened up by itself and flipped to a page with a robe on it. Harry picked up the robe and unfolded it. Stamped across the front of it was a crest of two stags crossing antlers. Harry had won! He was so excited. The giant book dissapeared and in its place stood a door. Harry opened it up and walked outside. He was in front of the maze again.  
  
"That whole thing was luck" Harry thought. Exausted, Harry trudged to his room, put his duel robe in his trunk, and collapsed on his bed, letting sleep overtake him.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~  
  
The next day, Harry awoke to a bird sitting outside on his windowsill. It was very pleasent, however, Harry's Firebolt was missing. Figuring Ron had taken it out, He walked downstairs for breakfast. There he saw Ron and Hermione sitting at table eating hash browns and toast. "Where's Neville and Ginny?" Harry asked.  
  
"Er..."  
  
"Well..."  
  
"You see... Neville made it out just fine, but Ginny, well, lets just say Mum and Dad still can't fix her."  
  
"Oh Harry, I almost forgot. Here's your wand. You must have left in such a hurry yesterday that you forgot to pick it up." Hermione handed Harry his wand. All of a sudden, someone let out an earsplitting shriek. Harry looked over his shoulder to see Mr. and Mrs. Weasly playing with a baby.  
  
"Ginny." Ron explained.  
  
Harry felt a pang of guilt for leaving so fast and without checking on the others.  
  
"So Harry, Happy Birthday!" Ron said finally, handing Harry a gift and card. With the air of a two year old, Harry ripped open the card.  
  
**************************************************************************** ******  
  
Happy Birthday. I hope you like what I got you, as it was extremely expensive, but don't worry about it, because I've taken a summer job at the twin's store to help pay it off.  
  
-Ron  
  
**************************************************************************** ******  
  
Harry took off the wrapping paper to reveal a rather small box, about the size of a snitch.  
  
"Go on Harry, tap it with your wand!"  
  
Even Hermione looked interested. Harry brought his wand down on top of the box and let it sit for a few seconds, until the box began to glow. It then grew to the size of a bookbag. Harry saw a latch on it, and when he undid it, he saw enough room in it to put his firebolt in.  
  
"A portable trunk. You can put all your class things in it, and carry it around in your pocket. They're dead useful."  
  
"Thanks!" Blushing, Hermione slid a long, thin package to Harry. Harry ripped off the paper and to his surprise, saw a broomstick.  
  
"I'm sorry Harry, but recently, I've been reading up on broom enhancements, and I knew you wouldn't agree to having me run a series of tests on it, so I snuck up there this morning. Well, even you would be proud of the job I've done on it. You see, the firebolt has a series of interesting faults, such as, on a Nimbus 2001, it takes aproximately three seconds to reach ninety feet in the air, and on a Firebolt, it takes nearly ten seconds to reach the same height! Not to mention, in dives, there are almost twice as many crashes a year because of dives on a Firebolt, than a Cleansweep 7! So now, your new broom, (She renamed it ofcourse) the Lightningrazor, can go from zero to one hundred MPH in two seconds, and it can reach a max altitude of, well, I'm not really sure, becaues before Fred and George got up to the highest it go, they passed out from thin air, so I think you can imagine how high it can go."  
  
With her last words, Hermione smiled at herself.  
  
"Wow... thanks Hermione!"  
  
"So Harry," Ron asked, "Can I have a go at it later?"  
  
"Ofcourse you can."  
  
Just then, Errol flew into the dining area, looking completely ruffled. Ron had to pry the letter from it's beak to get it to let go. Ron read out loud so everyone could hear.  
  
Students of Hogwarts; due to muggles accidentally wandering onto platform 9 3/4, the train will not run this year. Instead, you will be arriving at Hogwarts by way of a ski-lift. Included in this letter is a map of britian and the ski-lift stations. Tomorrow, at 5:00 A.M. ,you will travel to the nearest set ski-lift station. There will be two to a seat. Happy end of holiday's. Minerva McGonagle.  
  
Harry looked up at Ron. "Five in the morning?" 


End file.
